If asked to think of parts of the world that have made impressive progress in social measures like literacy rates, life expectancy and infant mortality rates over the last century, you might first imagine a small, affluent country in Northern Europe or East Asia.

But in this episode, we explore a place that achieves remarkable results on these and other measures without having the high income levels typically associated with states that have broad-based social welfare programs.

Dan Richards talks with Patrick Heller, professor of sociology and international and public affairs at Watson, about the surprising story of the Indian state of Kerala. Despite being a relatively low-income part of the world, Kerala has managed to foster social welfare programs in a way few countries in the world can match. And it does so while maintaining widespread participation in what Heller describes as “India’s noisy democracy.”

So how does Kerala do it, and what lessons can the rest of the world learn from its example? Listen to find out.

Read Patrick Heller and Olle Törnquist’s recent article on Kerala.

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